Resources (most of which are free!) on Vietnam, primarily from a leftist perspective in English, including but not limited to various books, articles, essays, documentaries, podcasts, and videos on the American war and socialism in present-day Vietnam. This collection is a work in progress; therefore expansion is ongoing.
Inclusion of links do not equal endorsement of publication.
Theory/Analysis:
Selected Writings by Hồ Chí Minh
People's War, People's Army by Võ Nguyên Giáp, a PAVN army general hailed as one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century who was a commander in Vietnam’s battles against both the French and Americans. This book is part manifesto, part guerrilla warfare manual.
The Vietnamese Revolution by Lê Duẩn, Vietnamese communist politician and trusted associate of Hồ Chí Minh (sorry for the Amazon link, couldn't really find it elsewhere).
American Imperialism and American War in Vietnam:
Kill Anything That Moves by Nick Turse - Americans have long been taught that events such as the notorious My Lai massacre were isolated incidents in the Vietnam War, carried out by just a few "bad apples”. But historian Nick Turse demonstrates in this book that violence against Vietnamese noncombatants was not exceptional, but rather pervasive and systematic.
Even The Women Must Fight, by Karen Gottschang Turner and Phan Thanh Hao. Vietnamese women's contributions to the struggle for liberation.
Podcast episode on the Vietnam War from Rev Left Radio **I really recommend listening to this if you’re just starting to learn about the war!**
The Cu Chi Tunnels Documentary in Vietnamese, with English subtitles. The Cu Chi tunnels were used by the Vietnamese army in combat during the war.
How did Communists win the Vietnam War? From Luna Ơi, a Vietnamese YouTuber
Henry Kissinger's genocidal legacy: Vietnam, Cambodia and the birth of American militarism More of a read on American imperialism in general, but does talk about Southeast Asia as well.
The Myth of the Hue Massacre - Let’s debunk some propaganda! While executions did occur at Hue, accusations of a massacre committed by the “Viet Cong” killing up to 6,000 people were fabricated by American media and greatly exaggerated in order to cover up and deflect from My Lai.
Redirecting the Revolution “This article will examine the ideology and practice of the USA’s nation-building campaign in South Vietnam in the 1960s. Convinced that they could modernise South Vietnam in ways that would undercut the sources of the revolution and create a liberal, capitalist state, they embarked on a comprehensive programme of social engineering with disastrous results.”
Declaration of War: The violent rise of white supremacy after Vietnam basically traces the lineage of the new iteration of white supremacy in Amerika from veterans returning from Viet Nam using the book Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. “But the most distinguishing characteristic of the Vietnam War was that, by any standard, it was a defeat. The fantasy of the US military as unstoppable, and of the American soldier as a ‘triumphant warrior,’ was dealt a profound humiliation by a nonwhite, non-European army made up of soldiers whom many Americans were inclined to hold in contempt as racially inferior peasants.”
Last Night I Dreamed Of Peace: The Diary of Đặng Thùy Trâm Đặng Thùy Trâm was a Vietnamese army doctor who fought Americans in the war and died defending her hospital from US attack, at the young age of 27 by gunfire. Her diary was recovered, and subsequently published in 2005.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was used as a justification for the American War, was revealed to have been completely fabricated by declassified NSA documents in 2005. Since the incident, America has been exposed for also lying about numerous “crimes” committed by other countries in order to justify war, not limited to but including the Nayirah testimony and Iraq WMDs.
Behind Enemy Lines: Vietnam's female spies who helped change the war - short article on a female combat unit in Huế
French Colonialism and French War in Vietnam:
Luc Xi: Prostitution and Venereal Disease in Colonial Hanoi (I am sorry again for the Amazon link! This book appears to be hard to find and a bit expensive in America, I found it while in Vietnam. Will work on finding PDFs/scans/places you can purchase other than Amazon). A look into Hanoi’s sex industry, disease, and medicine under colonialism, this book is by Vu Trong Phung, a Vietnamese journalist who lived through French occupation, and was translated into English in 2011.
Behind the Scenes, in the Forefront: Vietnamese Women in War and Peace by Lady Borton, an essay about various Vietnamese women who were generals, as well as leaders in the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) throughout Vietnamese history. Covers the entire period during and between French colonialism and the American War.
Significance of the term “Dien Bien Phu in the Air”
The August Revolution by Trường Chinh (PDF), an overview and analysis of the August Revolution by a Vietnamese communist politician who played a major role in Vietnamese liberation from French colonialism.
Overview of French Colonialism in Vietnam
The Crimes of French Imperialism - discusses French colonialism in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
“French invasion of Vietnam was just a civilizing process” - a distortion of history More info on French colonialism, from the National Defense Journal.
The Great Vietnamese Famine of 1944-45 Revisited Information on the Vietnamese famine of 1945, which occurred under Japanese occupation. According to French estimates, 600,000 Vietnamese people died during the famine, while official Vietnamese numbers list as many as 2,000,000 casualties.
Socialism in Contemporary Vietnam (post-war, mostly post-2000s):
Disclaimer: because Vietnam is a Marxist-Leninist socialistic republic, most links to socialist analyses will focus on Marxism-Leninism, and not other types of socialism.
More videos by Luna Ơi
Podcast episode on Vietnam’s response to COVID-19 built on Marxist-Leninist/socialist principles from Plan A Mag
Emerging COVID-19 success story: Vietnam’s commitment to containment a look into how Vietnam’s strong central government and well-developed public health system led to only a little more than 300 cases and zero deaths over four months of the pandemic.
Vietnam’s Health Care System Emphasizes Prevention And Pursues Universal Coverage Interview with Vietnamese former health minister Nguyễn Thị Kim Tiến
Vietnam May Have the Most Effective Response to Covid-19
Vietnam's Success in Containing COVID-19 Offers Roadmap for Other Developing Countries
Citizen Participation in Vietnam’s Local Government: Impact on Transparency and Accountability
Grassroots Democracy in Rural Vietnam: A Gramscian Analysis
Reducing Rural Poverty in Vietnam
A Communal Society - “The resilient strength of Vietnamese communalism meant that communism was easily absorbed into the collective consciousness of the Vietnamese people, and transformed into something that fitted their existing structure rather than a vehicle to reconstruct society.”
How Socialist Is Vietnam? Medium article summarizing the Đổi Mới economic reforms.
Actually Existing Socialism in Vietnam - “The term [Actually Existing Socialism] specifies ‘actually existing’ to highlight the need to approach socialism from a materialist, rather than idealist perspective. We would define actually existing socialism as the material manifestation of the socialist ideal. Imperfect as it may be, it is the reality of what it takes to build socialism in a world dominated by imperialism.”
Nation Mourns Officials and Soldiers Killed by Landslide - Very short article, but disspells the western belief that Vietnam’s government has done nothing for its citizens during natural disasters.
Some Theoretical and Practical Issues on Socialism and Path Towards Socialism in Vietnam Article by Nguyễn Phú Trọng, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee.
Diaspora
Terror In Little Saigon (documentary) and Terror In Little Saigon (article) - Information on Vietnamese-American journalists who were executed mostly in the 1980s, most likely by terrorist orgs led by former South Vietnam military commanders who sought to intimidate Vietnamese journalists who dared to question them or their politics. These are just a few stories in America’s long history of eliminating radicalism within various Asian diaspora groups in the country.
US Election: Vietnamese-Americans prefer Trump to Biden — and the president has fans in Vietnam too Not from a leftist perspective, but a decent read on why Vietnamese-Americans lean more right-wing than other Asian diaspora groups in America, primarily due to rejection of Marxism and rising anti-Chinese sentiment.
Among Vietnamese, a generational divide arises in fight against deportation threat - Article on the rise of deportation of Southeast Asian immigrants under Trump’s administration, and the political divide between older, conservative Vietnamese-Americans and younger, more left-leaning Vietnamese-Americans.
‘Communist’ Is Still a Dirty Word in Vietnamese Immigrant Enclaves - Concerns arise among Vietnamese communities in the US that “not being seen as anti-communist enough could invite attack” from other Vietnamese people.
From Humanitarian to Economic: The Changing Face of Vietnamese Migration - Article summarizing different waves of Vietnamese Migration around the world, including information on Vietnamese diaspora in the Eastern Bloc.